The ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, Tas, Vic and WA state chapters of the Australian Institute of Architects recently announced their winning commercial, public and residential projects. SA is due to announce next week.

All award recipients are now in the running for National Architecture Awards, which will be announced in late October.

AUSTRALIAN CAPTITAL TERRITORYPresenting this year’s awards, jury chair Bruce Townsend said: “This year the jury has selected a number of smaller projects for recognition. Despite their small budgets and scope, these projects have successfully investigated solutions for achievable ways of living in a more sustainable, albeit simpler way. These projects stand out in the context of our modern-day preoccupation with more, bigger, faster and only occasionally better! When everything else is telling us to up-size, these projects demonstrate a sustainable approach to consumption with spaces that will be rewarding for life.”

Honouring the H House, the jury said: “The jury believes that H-House is an important project. The result is a wonderful living environment that has resulted from a series of extremely fine judgements in regard to subtraction and addition, scale, light, materiality, form and program.”

NEW SOUTH WALESThe state’s top public architecture prize, the Sulman Award, was presented to the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link, Intermediate Stations, by HASSELL. Presenting the award, the jury said: “The four stations that make up the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link set a new benchmark for transport design in Australia. They are an elegant and innovative integration of engineering and architecture, where technical challenges and complexities have inspired rather than constrained the outcome.”A public architecture award was also presented to the Surry Hills Library and Community Centre by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (fjmt), which emerged as this year’s most honoured project — also taking out the Milo Dunphy Award for Sustainable Architecture and the John Verge Award for Interior Architecture.

NORTHERN TERRITORYA university building successfully bringing a modernist approach to tropical architecture has been awarded the two top honours at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2010 NT Architecture Awards.In presenting the awards, 2010 NT Awards Chairman John Mainwaring said, “The controversial decision to choose modernist typology over the contemporary Darwin vernacular for this key building on the CDU campus has paid off. The impressive scale of the exterior and internal public spaces combines successfully with a permeability and democracy of access and movement that establish it as a true public facility, and serve to reflect the vision and values of Charles Darwin University.”The Award for Residential Architecture – Houses was presented to The Pink House by Build Up Design, described by the jury as “a prototype for tropical suburban housing, designed to suit smaller blocks. It draws on the topology of Darwin’s government-built, high-set houses from the 1950s to the 1970s. This contemporary tropical home takes the best nostalgic design elements from old Darwin and blends them with modern architectural design utilising standard construction systems of the suburbs.”

QUEENSLANDCommenting on this year’s entries, Mr Brannigan said: “It’s commendable to see such a high proportion of projects entered into the public architecture category across the state, a trend that reflects the growing confidence of government organisations and regional councils in working with architects on key projects.” Speaking on the quality of this year’s entries, he added: “The jury has noted that it’s very obvious the best results are being seen in projects where architects have been employed at every stage of the process, from concept through to end of construction.”Leading the regional charge was this year’s top public architecture winner, with the F.D.G Stanley Award for Public Architecture going to the Ipswich Justice Precinct by Cox Rayner Architects with ABM Architects (ABM Cox Rayner). Presenting the award, Mr Brannigan said: “Located on the edge of the Ipswich CBD, this court building engages with the public domain in a number of ways and makes the interaction of the community with the justice system highly visible and accessible.” In a multiple win for Ipswich Justice Precinct, it also received this year’s Art and Architecture Prize and the G.H.M. Addison Award for Interior Architecture.

TASMANIAA regional building described as a “spectacular icon for imaginative civic regeneration and community identity” has taken out the highest accolade at this year’s Australian Institute of Architects’ 2010 Tasmanian Architecture Awards. The Alan C Walker Award for Public Architecture was presented to the Makers’ Workshop by Terroir. Presenting the award, Jury Chair Ian Moore said: “The project incorporates and reinterprets two key regional activities — an emerging creative crafts industry associated with Burnie’s paper manufacturing and a centre for local rural and pioneering heritage — as a single visitors’ centre with a robust approach to context, form and materiality.“This is architecture with an arresting attitude to vision; looking out pointedly at different aspects of its setting — port, town, hinterland, ocean and built context — just as it demands to be looked at from different vantage points, distances and times of day and night. Completed on a stringent budget within 15 months from initial briefing, the Makers’ Workshop is a testament to lucid architectural intent and direction.”In another win, the conversion of an 1840s stone barn into a contemporary studio residence, the Strangio House by Maria Gigney Architects, was awarded the Roy Sharrington Smith Award for Heritage and a Small Project Architecture Award. The jury said: “The Strangio House at West Hobart epitomises the principles of The Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance (The Burra Charter) while confidently balancing the challenges of contemporary occupation. This unambiguously modern refurbishment, sensitively placed within existing heritage fabric, appears as robust as its environ, yet retains a perceived element of mobility, as if ready to be introduced to an equally deserving locale.”

VICTORIAThe Melbourne Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre by joint venture architects, Woods Bagot and NH Architecture has been honoured with the 2010 Victorian Architecture Medal for successfully crossing design boundaries and taking out awards in four categories: the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture, the Steel Architecture Award, an award for Sustainable Architecture and the esteemed Melbourne Prize.The top award for commercial architecture, the Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award, went to Wood Marsh Architects for the Port Phillip Estate Winery. Described by the jury as being like “an archaeological artefact revealed by drifting sands, the rammed earth walls of Port Phillip Estate winery spiral from the earth and heighten anticipation of what lies below.”The stunning Lyon HouseMuseum has won the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture. Lyon Housemuseum is a family home that has been designed around an extensive collection of art. A function of the Housemuseum is to share the art collection with the community via public access. The success of the project has been the delicate and confident weaving of a sensitive family home through the towering galleries and spaces, says the jury.

WESTERN AUSTRALIAPerth’s Saint Mary’s Cathedral by Peter M. Quinn Architect was announced the winner of the state’s top public architecture prize, the George Temple Pool Award. In presenting the award, the jury said: “The completion of St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth is a major civic work that has been lovingly executed by a sole practitioner. Such an endeavour over a considerable period has required a complete commitment to the one project.”In a strong year for single residential architecture, with 11 awards and commendations presented, this year’s major award for residential architecture, the Marshall Clifton Award for Residential Architecture— Houses, was presented to a compact, low-maintenance beach house at Cottesloe designed for a retired couple — the Salvado Street Residence by Bates Smart + Madeleine Blanchfield Architects. The jury said: “Generous and delightful spaces are created from the modest footprint of two pavilions, one open and the other private, and linked by an internal courtyard; it’s a very successful response to local climate and the marine environment. The special ambience of this building is in part due to the careful and controlled selection of natural local materials that have been crafted together with great skill and meticulous detailing. The resulting delightful home is understated and not at all ostentatious.”